“I love and respect all people for who they are and their opinions,” Folau said.

“But personally, I will not support gay marriage.”

The tweet caused a social media storm on Wednesday and was contradictory to the message Wallabies captain Michael Hooper had shared a day earlier and that of the ARU who posted a rainbow logo on social media supporting marriage equality.

“For a lot of guys, they're about footy and our job is rugby, but sport has ability to cross boundaries,” Hooper told the Canberra Times this week.

“We're all very supportive of the 'Yes' campaign and this is the approach we've taken.

“If that helps influence people, then fantastic. We're fully supportive of that and anything we can do.”

Australians will start receiving their non-compulsory postal voting papers in the mail this week with responses due on November 7. A voting result is expected by November 15 and if the 'Yes' campaign is successful, the government will vote on a private member's bill in the last sitting fortnight of the year, where will be passed. If the 'No' vote is successful, a bill will not be presented to the house.

"'Yes' is going to win I think," FitzSimons said.

"It's nice for Australian sporting codes leading the way in the name of inclusiveness."